BACK TO NORMALITY ....

Today was a 'normal' day and after the ups and downs of the last week it was very welcome!

I am pleased to say that the patient is doing well and under strict instructions is resting and doing as he is told!  Thank you to Deb for her good wishes yesterday, they were very much appreciated.

No time for cross stitching as yet but the guys are all watching footie tonight, DD is both blogging and facebooking so the study is mine for the night and the daylight lamp is ready for action.  Here are a couple of pics of previous projects that I thought I'd share with you, they live in the Kitchen and are always out on show ....

This is Archie Bear and is a regular in one of the UK's cross stitching magazines.

I stitched him in colours of my choice on natural 28count evenweave and made the finished design into a small bag.

'Cock a Doodle doo' is a Heart in Hand design called Wee Rooster.

He was stitched on 28count cream Monaco evenweave again in colours of my choice in both DMC and GAST.

I made the plate behind in our local Pottery Barn in matching colours.

Hopefully Noah's Ark will make a further appearance tomorrow night so until then Happy Stitching everyone ......

A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE!

The past week for me has literally been a rollercoaster ride!

My dear Dad fell ill last Wednesday and by the evening was having a 3 hour operation with me pacing the hospital floor and visiting him in ICU at nearly midnight.  With lots of ups and downs inbetween, today has seen him being discharged and back home with my dear Mum with almost a 100% recovery - I am so happy tonight and so very proud of him.  Today is also my DH's birthday and we have just celebrated both occasions with a Chinese meal and sticky toffee gateau - I think an increase to 20,000 steps may be in order tomorrow???

Obviously due to all this excitement 'Noah's Ark' has taken a back seat and had to come ashore!  I think any attempts at cross stitching this past week would probably have meant a giant unpicking session this week.

I want to say a very BIG thank you to my new followers, I'm so pleased that people have found my news and projects of interest and  will encourage me to put Noah's Ark afloat again soon and aim for completion . . . . . . .

SPRING IN MY STEPS ....

It takes some getting used to .. waking up to brightness, birds singing and daffodils springing up everywhere ~ but I'm not complaining and today made the most of it.  Buttons was out first thing so he could enjoy the whole day sunbathing and I did my 10,000 step walk accompanied by Coldplay and Timberland.

I listed some of my projects for 2010 this afternoon and was disappointed I didn't find anything in my stash suitable to stitch ready for Spring - no bunnies, no daffs and no easter eggs (not good for the diet anyway) but did find two past completed stitches which require the finishing touch - might have a go at that tomorrow.

Is it just me or does Christmas and Halloween just shout out CROSS STITCH?  The design and charts for both these occasions are just fab and there are so,oooooooo many to choose from - the only drawback is packing them away after the holiday has finished.

Noah's Ark had me stitching until the midnight hour last night - as I said in yesterday's post it's such an easy stitch : just stripes and blocks of colour.  There's always one part of a design that I just can't wait to stitch and on this one it's the heart, as you'll see from the pic I purposely stitched everything around it last night so that I can concentrate on that one piece tonight so that's what I'm off to do now before an early night becomes more tempting (perhaps a cappuccino or two will help?) . . . . .

SOMETHING STRANGE .....

Something strange in the sky today and from memories past I do believe it was the SUN!

After yesterday's horrible weather it was a welcoming sight and Buttons and I made the most of it ~ me with a cappuccino and Buttons stretched out soaking up the warmth ~ lovely!!!

Noah's Ark is making good progress and it's a really enjoyable stitch.  I actually started it a couple of weeks ago on blue evenweave as shown on the chart but found recently that I have been struggling seeing the fabric count.  DH sent me to the Opticians and the outcome was I was long-sighted in one eye and short in the other (only me!!!)

I now have a pair of glasses for close-up work and what a difference ~ I don't know how I was ever stitching in the right holes.  Anyway decided to carry on stitching on 14-count Rustico Aida which reminds me of a sandy beach and am happy with the outcome so far.